Life Is the Game That Must Be Played
by Real Holden
Summary: AU. All human! *No wings*- Max and her family just moved to North Carolina. Things are about to get interesting- especially with Fang and Iggy as her next door neighbors. FAX -Includes love, hate, drama, sorrow, happiness, and FUN. Hope you like.
1. Stare Contests, Twins, and Pajamas

Hi there! Okay, that sounded lame. What a great way to start off my story! Let's try again, shall we? Hey, my name is Max. I live with my mom, my little sister Ella, and my adopted little sister Nudge. That's it. No Dad. Well, I'm sure I had a dad, at one point, but Mom doesn't like to talk about him. She once said something about him being too obsessed with science and not paying any attention to her. What-ever.

Okay, so here's the deal. We just moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. Mom got this new promotion in Raleigh and we all kind of just wanted to try something new. So here we are, a new state, a new home, and even new neighbors. Hey, speaking of neighbors, Mom has this childhood friend who lives right beside us. Or in front of us. I'm not really sure. I'll explain the neighbors. I got, like, a background check of them.

Childhood Friend/neighbor:

Name: Hannah Cook

Husband: It's 'complicated'

Age: 40

Occupation: Professional Chef (Oh, the irony)

Children: Two sons (Isaac 'Iggy' Cook, who was blind, & Fuller 'Fang' Cook)

Ages: Both 16 (My age)

So that's basically all I need to know. And I'm not a stalker or anything, I just think it's important to know who I'm dealing with. Rule # 1 in the Guide to Surviving This Suckish World: Don't. Trust. Anyone. Okay, back to... whatever I was talking about. Let's start with the day we all met.

I was downstairs, minding my own business- WAIT. That's not entirely true. Rewind!

I was downstairs, having a very intense staring contest with Ella. We were at our new house and Mom went to go and bring over our new neighbors (AKA- her friend) Nudge was being nice and being our referee. You should see our staring contests. They basically consist of Ella and me all up in each other's faces death glaring at one another. They usually go too far. Like now for instance. I was whispering things like: 'Ella, you are a banana. Ella, I'm the one who broke your iPod. Ella, you are sooo going to lose.' I said these things to either A: Get her to laugh, B: Get a strong reaction out of her, or C: Basically to be mean. I put my freezing cold hands (I'd been playing with an ice cube) on either side of her face; she winced, but stayed strong and held her brown eyes open. I heard the door open and footsteps, but we ignored it- there was a competition being held.

"Max, I ate the last chocolate chip cookie", Ella said. I almost,_ almost_, turned toward the cookie jar, but stopped myself just in time. Ella smirked. I barred my teeth.

"You did not."

"Check for yourself."

"Why, you little twerp."

Ella just smiled, and blew on my face, trying, once again, to get me to blink.

"Not a chance", I whispered. Right then, a hand landed hard and smacked the table. Ella and I both jumped and _blinked_. Just as Mom was saying "Look girls!", Ella and I groaned _really_ loudly.

"Oh! You both lost! Oh, that sucks! You blinked at, like, the exact same time!" Nudge was shouting, but smiling. Ella covered her face with her hands as I ran to the kitchen, checking for- yes, the last cookie. I stuck it in my mouth and walked back to Ella. She was looking at Mom with a 'You did _not _just do that' face.

"Sorry, hon. I didn't know you were playing that game", Mom said sheepishly.

"Game? Momma, it's not a game anymore, it's a _war_. I'm getting better, and I almost beat her this time."

"Keyword being almost." I said as I walked back to the kitchen table, cookie sticking half way out of my mouth. "Nice tactic, Ella. I almost fell for it." I'd turned to look at Mom, who was just smiling at us, and then behind her, where there was an unfamiliar woman and two tall guys. Mom followed my line of sight, and gasped.

"Oh, right! I forgot. Girls, this is my friend, Hannah, from grade school. She's the one who I've been talking about. Well, these are her two sons, Fang and Iggy" Mom looked at the neighbors and said, "These are my girls: Nudge, Ella, and Max." By that time, my cookie was gone, and Nudge was beaming at our new neighbors.

Hannah said, "It's great to meet you." We nodded.

You know those moments when no one is talking and it's really awkward? Well... yeah. We were all just kind of looking everywhere except each other, and I could just hear the crickets. One of the boys, he had this blondish reddish hair, coughed. Mom clapped her hands together. "_So_, I'm going to talk to Hannah at her house. I want you all to get to know each other", she said mostly to me. "And Max? Didn't I tell you to get dressed?"

"Yes you did", I stated, knowing for a fact I was wearing solid black pajama pants and a t-shirt with 'Got Wings?' on it. Nudge got it for me for Christmas last year, after I became obsessed with hawks and birds and stuff. Don't ask. Birds are cool. I suddenly came back to reality and saw that everyone was looking at me. Nudge waved bye to Mom and Hannah as I grabbed a handful of grapes out of our grape bowl- yes, we have a bowl specifically for grapes; don't judge me- and sat back down across from Ella, who was pretty much done with pouting.

"You guys wanna sit?" I looked at the guys and motioned toward the rest of the seats. The strawberry blond walked over to the chair beside me. The other guy was around the same height and was wearing all black (He even had dark hair and eyes); he came to sit at the head of the table, kind of far away. "So, which one is Fang and which one is Iggy?" I asked.

Strawblond (Isn't that a cool nickname? It's a mix between strawberry and blond) smiled and said, "I'm Iggy. That's Fang." He pointed the dark one. How did he even know where his brother was?

"Are you, like, unidentical twins or something?" asked Nudge.

"Fraternal", I murmured.

"I was adopted", Iggy explained.

"Same with Nudge", I motioned to her.

"Yeah, Mom adopted me when I was three, but I hardly even notice because it's like I was born into this family. It's cool that Ella and I are the same age and everything because I grew up with a twin sister who wasn't really my blood relative. It's just like you guys because you're the same age even though you're Max's age-"

"So what do you guys do for fun?" Ella interrupted, thank God. Iggy, of course, answered, while Fang just sat there, emotionless, looking at everyone.

"There's this really big movie theater near here. There's a skate park and a huge mall, too," I rolled my eyes when Nudge smiled really big. Total, our little black schnauzer, started scratching on the back door.

"I'll let him in!" Ella said and stood up, making her way to the anxious little pup. We all watched her, except for Fang, who was looking at me. I looked back. He wasn't breaking away, so I crossed my eyes at him and made a funny face. He raised his eyebrows at me and I smiled. Ah, it's fun to mess with people. When Ella sat back down, I looked spoke up to Fang.

"Do you talk?" I asked, curious to why he was being so freaking quiet.

He looked at me for a second. "Nope", he said, slightly shaking his dark head and looking away.

I smiled and Iggy chuckled. "No one has ever asked him that."

"Glad to be the first," I said, smiling yet again. Just then, the front door swung open and in came Mom and Hannah, soaking wet.

"Fall down a well?" I asked them.

"It's pouring outside!" said Mom.

"Didn't you notice?" asked Hannah.

"Oh! No I didn't. Probably because we were talking. Wow! It is raining, like, a whole lot!" Said Nudge while Ella and Iggy laughed their heads off.

"Come on, guys, we have to get back to our house. Did you all get to know each other?" asked Hannah and her sons nodded. "Alright, we'll be back later." She waved to us.

"Bye!" said Ella and Nudge.

"How was it?" asked Mom, who was drying her hair with a dish towel.

"I like them" said Nudge. "Well, I like Iggy; Fang just won't talk. Well, Max got him to say something, but that was just one word. I don't think I would ever be able to keep quiet that long!"

"I thought they were pretty cool", said Ella.

"They're different", I said.

"Good. They are coming over later to eat pizza with us."

I nodded and headed off to my new room.

"Oh and Max?" said Mom. I turned around.

"Get dressed."

I rolled my eyes.


	2. It's the Thumb Wrestle Tradition!

**Thanks for the reviews! And, yes, Gazzy and Angel are definitely going to be in this story. Alright, so enjoy! :D**

About three hours later, after our neighbors left, Nudge and I were laying on the floor literally dying of hunger. Okay, so not literally, but close enough.

"I need _food_!" She moaned.

"Hang in there, kid; the pizza guy should be here soon", I said, although my stomach was done with waiting.

"You said that, like, and hour ago!"

"Nudge, it's been five minutes", I rolled my eyes. "Let's just talk about something else, to take our minds off of waiting."

"Okaaaay, I see you changed clothes", Nudge said, looking me over. I looked at myself in, yes- no pajamas. I was wearing jeans and my blue short sleeve shirt. Simple. Comfortable. Just the way I like it. "But why aren't you wearing that tank top I bought you? It was really pretty and I _know _it fits you because I measured you in your sleep."

I looked at her and crossed my arms, "I feel so violated."

Nudge rolled her eyes. "You know how I love coffee and Ella hates it?" I nodded. "Well, we made a bet. If she doesn't like coffee by the time she's a senior in high school, I have to dye my hair purple. Though, I don't really mind because I love purple. Not as much as pink, but purple's still cool. Do you think I would look good with purple hair?"

"Nudge, you aren't dying your hair purple."

"Well, of course not. It's not like I'm going to lose", she said this like it was obvious.

"Okay, then. What will you get if you win?"

"Ella has to pierce her tongue", Nudge said smugly.

"Nudge! She is_ not _piercing her tongue."

Nudge laughed. "A bet's a bet. We shook on it."

I knew for a fact that Ella and Nudge were both stubborn; not as stubborn as me, but still stubborn. Neither one would back down from this. Oh my God, if Mom found out about this she'd-

Just then, the doorbell interrupted my train of thought. Nudge flew up (not literally; Nudge can't fly) and darted to the door, but I was in the way so she ended up tripping over me. I let out a moan, but quickly recovered and ran for the door. I fumbled with the lock a few times, but finally swung the door open. The pizza dude just stood there holding those delicious looking pizza boxes in his arms. Nudge yanked them out of his hands as I threw the money at him and shut the door. I went into the kitchen where Nudge was prying the boxes open. Oh, God, they smelled sooo good! Right when Nudge and I each picked up a piece, someone yelled, "HOLD IT!" We looked behind us to see Mom with her hands up in a 'Stop' motion.

We blinked at her. She slowly said, "Drop. The. Pizza." We did what we were told, unwillingly might I add. "I know you're hungry, but we're not eating here anymore. Change of plans. We're heading on over to Hannah's house and eating the pizzas there."

I nodded. "Nudge, you grab these two boxes. I'll take these. Ella! We're leaving!" I shouted as I walked out the back door.

"I'll be over in a second, girls. I need to start the laundry real quick," Mom called out to us.

"What's going on? Where are we going?" asked Ella, who was following behind me on the wet grass.

Nudge answered, "To that lady, Hannah's, house. We're eating over there. Which one is it? Should we have brought Total? I mean, maybe they have a dog, too. Total could have a friend!"

"I think Mom said it's this one", I said, motioning with my head to the house right beside ours. "And I don't know if they have a dog, Nudge. Maybe." We arrived at their wooden front door. It was tall, almost like ours. Come to think of it, their house was about the same size as ours. "Ella, doorbell," I said. She pressed the doorbell and took a step back. You know those doorbells that play, like, a song? Well, these people had that exact doorbell. "Oh, dear lord," I said, rolling my eyes. Nudge and Ella laughed. The front door opened and there was Fang.

"Hey, Fang! We got pizza!" said Nudge as he moved out of the way to let us in.

"Where do you want these to go?" I asked him.

"Counter's fine," he said, pointing to the kitchen. Nudge opened the boxes and handed me a slice. I immediately took a bite and sighed in pleasure. Nudge more like moaned in pleasure. I swear, some random lady would think our parents were starving us by the way we tackled the slices. Ella, Nudge, and me were leaning on the counter enjoying our dinner. Fang had just picked up a slice, too. A few minutes later, Iggy came in.

"Do I smell... I think it is. Pizza!" He said happily. Ella picked up a piece and handed it to him. "Our Mom's on the phone. She should be done soon," he said as we all sat down at their dining room table. I was on my second slice by now.

We were all pretty much done eating by the time Mom came in. Iggy told her where Hannah was. She grabbed a couple of slices of pizza and made her way to Hannah's office.

"I read in some World Record book that this guy ate forty- eight pizza slices in, like, an hour", Ella said, picking at a piece of pepperoni.

"I would never eat pizza _ever_ again", said Iggy, grimacing.

It sounded like Nudge was agreeing, but I couldn't tell because her mouth was full. I heard something along the lines of, "Mmmf geerrr wifff ternnn." After she swallowed, she asked, "Do you have a dog?"

Iggy shook his head. "We have a guinea pig."

Ella smiled and Nudge said, "Really? What's it's name?"

Fang answered, "Cupcake."

"Awwwww!" Nudge and Ella said together.

"Cupcake?" I questioned.

Iggy explained. "He's not really ours. There are these two little kids we babysit-"

"Angel and Gazzy," interrupted Fang.

"-and we take care of Cupcake for them," Iggy finished.

I nodded and Ella said, "Can we see him?"

"Sure," Iggy said. "Come on." He got up and they followed him down a hall. I put down the piece of pizza I was eating and looked up to see Fang staring at me. Oh. We were alone. _Great._ I drummed my fingers on the table, then took a breath. "So, what's school like here?"

Fang shrugged. "Boring. Annoying. Big."

"Do you play any sports?"

"Lacrosse."

"Your school has lacrosse?"

He nodded. "You play?"

"Oh, yeah, but I'm too violent so Nudge and Ella stopped playing with me. I think it was last summer when I broke Ella's wrist." Fang seemed surprised. Things got quiet and we sat there for like thirty seconds without talking. I sighed and looked at him. "Thumb wrestle?" I asked holding out my hand. What can I say? I'm big on competitions. He raised his eyebrows but took my hand. I felt a little jolt go through me at his touch, but I just ignored it the feeling. It was hard, though, because his hands were warm and calloused and comforting. Okay, Max! Back to the game. "One, two, three, four-"

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Counting off. Don't you do that?"

He shook his head.

"It's part of the thumb wrestle tradition. Just listen." I took a deep breath. "One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war. Five, six, seven, eight, this'll be a piece of cake. Nine, ten, let's begin." I tried to talk hold of his thumb, but he was too quick. He faked me out twice and almost got me, but I pulled away. After all, I was really good at this game. "Ella and I have been playing this since we could talk. There is no way you're going to win." He gave a tiny smile and rolled his eyes.

"And _I've _been playing this since I started babysitting Angel and Gazzy, who are, just so you know, absolute pros at this."

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. "Yeah, well, I-"

"Ella! Oh my God!" Fang shouted, looking behind me.

I swung my head around, expecting to see Ella with a pierced tongue or something, but I saw nothing. "What the crap are-" I started, but then looked down at my thumb. It was being held down by Fang's thumb. My jaw dropped open. "You _cheated._"

"I win," he said smugly.

"I'm gonna hurt you_,_" I warned and he chuckled. We were looking into each other's eyes, but then he looked down at our hands, which I just then noticed were still in thumb- wrestle position. I pulled my hand away and stood up. "I'm just going to go find-"

"Max!" yelled Mom. "Time to go!" I walked over to the front door, where she, Hannah, Iggy, Ella, and Nudge were all talking. Then I looked behind me to see Fang walking over to us. Nudge pulled me out the door while I was still looking at him.

"Good to see you all again!" Mom said.

"Hey, Fang?" I said as we were walking away. He looked at me.

"I want a rematch."

He just gave me look that said, "It doesn't matter. I'm going to win anyway."

Oh, we'll see.


	3. That Did NOT Just Happen

**Once again, thanks for the reviews! Hope you like this chapter :) And sorry if it's kinda short**

Have you ever woken up to someone trying to give you a tattoo on your ankle? Yeah, me neither. Have you ever woken up to someone shoving you really hard? Well, that's how I woke up Sunday morning. I opened my eyes to see Ella with an anxious slash nervous look on her face.

"What?" I asked. I looked over to my clock. It was- "Ella! It's seven in the morning!" What is this girl _thinking?_

"Max, I can't find Total. He's usually waiting at the door so I can let him in, but I don't see him outside. I would've gotten Mom or something but she and Nudge went to go get breakfast and then they're gonna shop for new school clothes." Ella took a deep breath at the end of her mini- speech.

She's starting to sound like Nudge. "Ella, I'm tired and half asleep. Why couldn't you just go outside and look for him yourself? You're, like, 14."

"It's still dark out there! Who knows what pedophiles are in the shadows waiting to grab me!" Ella was hysterical. I buried my head under my pillow. Then she started yanking my arm. "Max! Please!"

"Ugh! Fine," I threw off my blankets and made my way to the door. Ella followed behind. I slid open the back door, walked out, and immediately shivered. Since when is it cold in the mornings? Shorts and a tee were so not the right clothes for this. When I looked behind me, Ella was still inside, just staring at me. Creepy.

"Ella? You coming?"

"Uh, no. I think I'll just stay inside."

"Little twerp", I murmured as I walked away. I searched on either side of our house, then in the bushes. I even searched the trees. Who knew? Maybe Total learned how to jump really high or something and got stuck in one of the branches. Finally, I decided to look in the forest behind our house. So help me, if I find out this dog was asleep inside all along-

"Arf!" I heard coming from farther in the woods. I stepped on twigs and rocks and tons of other unknown things. I should've worn shoes. I called Total's name for a while, and he barked back a couple times, so I had a pretty good idea of where he was. I stopped for a second to move a branch out of my way. As I was working to get through, something scared the bejeezus outta me.

"Max?"

I screamed and twirled around and wacked whatever pedophile was out stalking me in the woods. They backed away and held their hands up in an 'I surrender' motion. I got a closer look and saw it was none other than Fang. Huh?

He started to talk. "Are you-"

"What are you doing here?" I interrupted, gasping for breath and trying to slow my heart.

"I saw-"

"You scared me!" I interrupted him again.

"I-"

"What are you _doing _here?" I repeated. He crossed his arms and just looked at me. I held up a hand and looked down, still slightly gasping. "Okay, alright, go ahead. You- no, I'm sorry, go ahead. It's just... nevermind. I'm listening. You talk."

He eyed me warily before talking again. "Just checking on you."

My stubborn streak kicked in. "I can take care of myself... But, uh, thanks anyway. It's just we can't find our dog, Total."

Fang nodded and just looked at me.

"Yeah, so, um... I'm just gonna keep looking for him..." I said. Hint- hint, Fang.

"Need help?" Hallelujah!

"Yes, as a matter of fact, help would be nice." I pointed to the direction I thought Total was in, and we both made our way through the woods. It felt like I'd been searching for hours, when it was really, like, twenty something minutes. Time goes by slowly when you're having zero fun. I could still see our house through a few tree branches. "I think I heard him somewhere around here... Total!" In response, I got a few barks that sounded only a few feet away. I picked up the pace and finally found the little pooch. "There you are." He was just sitting on a rock, all peaceful and what not. I knelt down to scratch his little doggy head, but he dodged my hand and ran in the direction of the house. "Well, then."

Fang and I followed him back to the house. "What were you doing up so early?"

"Couldn't sleep," he said. I looked closer at him; he was wearing pajamas. Black pajama pants and a black t- shirt. Of course. We kept on walking. Things got a little interesting when we reached that pesky branch where Fang scared me. Fang moved it aside for me, quite the gentlemen, but when I tried to get through, my shirt apparently got caught on it and ripped, like, halfway down the middle. You could see my bra and everything. There was a five second silence where he just stared at me with wide eyes, and I stared back.

"Don't look! I'm exposed!" I finally said as we both turned in the opposite direction. I had to hold the shirt together. Oh, God. I turned around and he was running his hand through his hair.

"Um," was all he said.

I shook my head. "That was karma getting back at me. I shouldn't have eaten Nudge's last chocolate bar."

Fang nodded.

…Awwkkwwwaaarrddd…

"Well, we should be getting back…" He nodded again, but we didn't move. We had one of those moments. He was looking at me and I was looking at him and he was looking at me and I was looking at him and he was- "Well, come on then." I started walking ahead of him, but he caught up quickly. Damn those long legs of his. When we got back to my back yard, Ella was on the back porch holding Total.

"Max, you found- Max, a pedophile! RUN!"

I looked around searching for any pedos, but all I saw was Fang. Oh. Fang. "Ella! No, no, no. It's Fang!" I pulled him out of the dark and into the rising sun's light.

"Oh, thank God." She walked over to us, and then saw me holding my shirt together. "Max, what did he _do _to you?" She asked in a low voice, glaring at poor Fang.

Fang shook his head quickly and I explained. "My shirt got caught on a branch. Chill, Ella. You get all worked up in the mornings."

She sighed. "Yeah, I know. I think I just need some sleep." Ella leaned against me. "I'm actually really tired." I put my arm around her.

"Thanks Fang. This has been... interesting," I said as we walked off, me rushing to get out of his presence.

I heard him mumble a "yeah" behind me as his footsteps retreated.

Ella and I headed inside with me basically carrying the sleepy girl.

"Max?" She said.

"Yep?"

"I think Fang likes you."

I froze for a second. "And what makes you say that?"

"I just have a feeling. Iggy thinks so, too. Well he says that Fang's "intrigued" by you. He said that Fang never really makes an effort to talk to anyone or whatever, but he talks to you and stuff. And he-"

"Ella?"

"Mhmm?"

"Go to sleep."

And she did.


	4. Spa Sunday

**Atrasado. Late. Really, really late. Extremely, undeniably, I-wanna-strangle-you-with-an-effing-twizzler late. It has been months. Months, for God's sakes. I feel like grounding myself, or something. Well, I'd like to thank ****XxAngelWithWingsxX for finally getting me to finish this.**

Every Sunday afternoon, Ella, and I all treat Mom to a luxury spa treatment. We call it Spa Sunday. I know, very original. Nudge is in charge of moisturizing, cleansing, perfecting, smoothifying, and make-up-applying her face. Ella's in charge of filing, clear coating, and painting her nails, and I'm... well, I wash Mom's hair. Believe it or not, that's all I can handle. Once I attempted treating Mom's face... She broke out in some type of rash and didn't leave her room for two days. So I'm lucky Nudge even let me do hair.

"When I grow up, I think I want to be a Cirque du Soleil person," said Nudge absentmindedly as she washed some green stuff off of Mom's face.

I laughed to myself as I rinsed Mom's hair. "What about you Ella?"

"Easy. I'm going to be Superman," She said proudly. Mom laughed.

"And what's your backup plan?"

She thought for a moment. "... A sock model." We all just kind of stared at Ella until she looked up. "What?" We shook our heads at her. "Well, what about you Max?"

"I dunno... I guess I just wanna survive this world."

"What, you think it's gonna end or something?"

"Well, 2012 is inching closer and closer..." Before they could reply, I changed the topic. "Do you want me to do anything else?" I asked as I picked up the straightener.

"NO!" Yelled Ella and Nudge at the same time, while Mom looked terrified.

"You can't straighten soaking wet hair! And we don't want you to burn Mom!" Said Nudge as I slowly put the straightener down.

"Sheesh. You act like I'm some psycho freak that doesn't know anything."

"Close enou-" started Ella, but I cut her off.

"Watch it twerpet, I know where you brush your teeth," I said while pointing at her.

"Huh? What does that even _mean_?"

"... I don't know, Ella. _Somebody_ woke me up way early this morning. I don't know what I'm saying."

"Obviously. Okay, Mom, I think you're done. That'll be twenty bucks," Nudge said holding out her hand.

"How about a hug?" Mom said as she got up and opened her arms.

"Ew! No. Mom cooties," We all said, dodging her. I ran out to the kitchen and took out our grape bowl. Ella came in too and saw what I was doing. She raised her eyebrows. "Hey, Ella, you wanna have a contest?"

"Heck yeah!" She sat in front of me.

"Okay... So whoever can stuff as many grapes in their mouth wins." She nodded and we began putting the grapes into our mouths.

One, two, three, four, I lost count after five. I was too busy counting the amount of grapes Ella was stuffing her face with. She had gotten to seven before I started to choke. And when I say choke, I mean_ choke._ I freaked out, spit out all my grapes into my hand, while that one grape was still down my throat, trying to _murder _me. I got up and walked to the refridgerator. Why? I don't know! I was choking! I didn't know _what _was going through my head, except for 'you damn fruit'! Ella was helpful, but slightly laughing as she patted my back.

And then I died.

Heh, just kidding... Obviously. The effin' grape eventually went away. Where, exactly, did it go? Not sure. But it wasn't blocking my oxygen tube. So I was happy.

That is until one little Hispanic smiled hugely at me. "I WON! YOU DIDN'T!"

So, of course, like any other older sister, I gave her a death glare and put all of the grapes that were in my mouth down her shirt.

She squealed, "shoved" me aside, and ran away.

MWA HA FREAKING HA!

_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_

A few hours later and Ella and Nudge were on Facebook while I was laying on the couch bouncing my ball all over the place. You see, this summer I had gone to Baltimore, Maryland. There, we went to this toy store at the mall and I got this amazing bouncy ball. I named him Armadillo. He's green and about the size of a cantelope. The most amazing part of Army is that he bounces REALLY high. Almost like he can fly. Which is why I love him.

But, then, in the middle of my 2384975984752987450928 bounce (Okay, that _might _be an exaggeration) Mom came in.

"Max," she started, sitting beside me.

"Max's mother," I replied with, putting Army in my lap.

"We have more neighbors!"

"Uh... Oh, no no no. Please, I don't want to meet any more people!"

"C'mon, they have a daughter. She's your age. Or at least that's what Hannah says. You can have more friends this year!"

"Mom, I had enough friends last year."

"I know, but I want you to have even more!"

"Mom, you're such a spaz." She shot a look at me and so I quickly put my hands up. "Kidding, kidding."

"So, you'll meet her?"

"I don't have much of a choice, now, do I?"

"Nope."

"Condenar," I mumbled under my breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Was that Gaelic?"

"... Maybe."

"Ugh, you should've never met Jenny!"

"It's Genna, Mom." Genna was a good friend I had last year. She moved from Ireland and was perfectly fluent in Gaelic. She taught me a few things, but not that much. It got on every ones nerves when I threw some Gaelic into the conversation. Hehe.

"Oh, well, it's hard to remember names these days. I'm getting older, you know. Well, I have to go to the pharmacy. Just please think about what I said. Okay?"

"Fine." She kissed my head, then went to go pick up her supply of drugs.

The rest of the day was, well, pointless. It basically consisted of:

-Ella playing Taylor Swift.

-Nudge trying to paint my toenails. I let her _try_ but it tickled so bad... I kicked her in the face. She didn't try again after that.

-Pulling out our old VCR and playing old Rugrats movies. Oh, how I miss those days.

-Remembering when I was little and stuck my finger in the VCR player, resulting in some major bleeding fingers. I suddenly didn't miss those days so much.

-Not going near the grape bowl.

-Nudge going outside because she saw a bunny.

-Me locking her out.

-Her breaking a window to get in.

-Us all getting rid of the evidence.

And then as I was finally getting ready for bed, I saw Fang. His window was somewhat directly across from mine. I saw him sitting cross legged on the edge of his bed, with a remote in his hand. I couldn't tell if it was for the TV or a stereo or what. But, as I was about to turn away, he looked over at me. I looked at the remote in his hand, then back at his emotionless face. I gave him a look that said "Well, this is kind of embarrassing," referring to our... er, encounter earlier today. And then I turned away, shutting my curtains.

What a day.

**Phew. I'm so proud of myself. (:**

**Feel free to message me or something. I love talking to people! If I ever take too long to update, feel free to bug me.**


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